Has anybody else picked this up yet? It’s really done a number on me. Prior to reading it I would consider myself a Stoic. One of my central philosophies being that “The choices I make define who I am”.
So obviously being told that my choices were never even mine to begin with was kind of a slap in the face.
It rings true though. The choices we make at any given time are a result of our genetics, or environment, the media we’ve consumed, how tired we are…
I’m not a stranger to the concept of Ego death but it had been a hot minute since I thought about it.
Take it to the logical conclusion that you make no decision, and are a biological logic machine. The consciousness is an artifact of the process to keep the machine running efficiently. Your sense of self is an illusion.
You are not luckier to live a rich life than the Macbook is lucky to be sitting on your desk.